ACG aims to improve pharma supply chain with blockchain

Manufacturing solutions company ACG Inspection has launched a blockchain-based solution for pharmaceutical anti-counterfeiting and traceability requirements in the supply chain.

The company’s Brand Security Platform is able to ensure the whereabouts and contents of packaged medicines more accurately throughout their supply chain journey from manufacturer to end-user.

The platform utilises blockchain, the internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) to provide a transparent journey of packaged medicines to all stakeholders in the supply chain. ACG Inspection designed the platform the overcome longstanding obstacles related to traceability in pharma, such as the challenges of establishing single-owner data sets and the prevalence of digital broken supply chains.

Customers of ACG’s Brand Security Platform can choose whether to combine the product’s three primary components of Blockchain, IoT and AI, to scale to their own needs.

This can amount to geolocation solutions that can provide everything from basic data management to full-scale, supply chain-wide transparency.

ACG’s Brand Security Platform

• Blockchain: With Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and smart contracts, all medicines and buyers, sellers, logistics partners and manufacturers are registered to one network, making it impossible for outsiders to manipulate the supply chain at any point without detection.
• Internet of Things (IoT): All participants in the delivery chain can be connected to the network using any GS1-compatible application, such as the ACG Inspection mobile application, the ACG Inspection web platform, or any other application integrated into the ACG Inspection platform. ACG Inspections Geo Location and product biometrics trackers tagged to the products always provide all the data required for monitoring the location information and biometrics of the package.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI): Participants can be alerted in real-time regarding any temperature breach if the temperature of the medicine/drug rises above or falls below the desired threshold level, Geo-Fencing breach, or any deviation in the route planning, enabling real-time decisions. If the steady stream of data determines unacceptable deviations, the corresponding package is automatically invalidated.

Through the combination of these elements, ACG Inspection hopes to improve the traceability and transparency of the pharma supply chain. Customers will receive a unique serial number, QR Code or datamatrix for each package, which is then scanned to initiate the track and trace process. From that point, the system’s trackers continuously monitor and transmit data concerning the package’s temperature, humidity and location and any other parameter that is configured. Data also is analysed to ensure compliance with various domestic and/or international mandates.

When the package eventually reaches the end user, the receiving party can validate the drug prior to purchase through scanning it. Once the final transaction occurs, relevant data is immutably stored in a digital ledger for reporting or recall purposes.